Vegetables You Can Eat on the Atkins Diet

The Atkins Diet is a low carbohydrate meal plan that fires up your metabolism and turns your body into a “fat-burning machine.” When you reduce your intake of carbs by eating chiefly protein, fat and fiber, your body will produce less insulin and when your blood sugar levels-out, you won’t crave the carbs as much. The carbohydrates you do eat are in the form of vitamin rich, high fiber, whole foods, such as vegetables. When you eat carbs that metabolize slowly, you have more energy.

How the Atkins Diet Works

Your body turns carbs into glucose, which enters the blood stream and raises your blood glucose level. The hormone insulin rushes in to stabilize the glucose and that creates a cycle of your blood sugar spiking then crashing, which makes you hungry and crave more carbohydrates. The body doesn’t store more than a half-day supply of energy from glucose. If you eat more carbohydrates than can be used, your body stores it as fat, even if you’re limiting your daily caloric intake.

When following the Atkins Diet Plan, you work your way through your weight loss in four phases. You can combine your vegetables to make tasty dishes and that will help you stay on track. For example, make an asparagus and leek soup or try a pepper and zucchini soup. In warm weather, enjoy a cool and crunchy cauliflower salad, or a cobb salad. Or fix yourself some comfort food and create a spinach, swiss chard and cheese bake.

1. Vegetables You Can Eat in Phase 1

In Phase 1, or the Induction Phase, you should eat 12 to 15 grams of carbohydrates (net carbs) per day. In general, the serving size is one-half to one cup, where a one-cup serving is approximately the size of a baseball.

Vegetables that have 0 to 1 net carb(s):

Alfalfa sprouts

Artichoke hearts

Arugula

Bok choy

Broccoli (raw)

Cauliflower

Celery

Chicory greens

Chives

Cucumber

Daikon radish

Endive

Escarole

Hearts of Palm

Iceberg lettuce

Olives, black (5)

Parsley

Radicchio

Radishes

Romaine lettuce

Spinach (raw)

Vegetables that have over 1 to 2 net carb(s):

Bamboo shoots

Broccoli (cooked)

Broccoli rabe

Broccoflower

Cabbage

Eggplant

Leeks

Mushrooms

Rhubarb

Sauerkraut

Spaghetti squash

Summer squash

Swiss chard

Zucchini

Vegetables that have over 2 to 5 net carbs:

Artichoke

Asparagus

Avocadoes

Brussels sprouts

Collard greens

Fennel

Jicama

Kale

Kohlrabi

Okra

Olives, green (5)

Onion

Peas

Peppers

Pumpkin

Tomato

Turnips

Water Chestnuts

2. Vegetables You Can Eat in Phase 2

In Phase 2, or Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL), you add variety to your meal plan and gradually increase your net carbs. In Phase 2, you eat the same vegetables as in Phase 1.

3. Vegetables You Can Eat in Phase 3

Phase 3, or Pre-Maintenance, is the next step after you’ve lost most of the weight, with only around 10 pounds to go. In this phase, you can eat all of the vegetables from Phase 1, plus:

Acorn Squash

Carrots

White potatoes

Yams

4. Vegetables You can Eat in Phase 4

The Atkins Diet Lifetime Maintenance phase, or Phase 4, is where you begin your new life at your goal weight. By this time, eating well has become your lifestyle and all you need to do is commit to being in charge of what you eat for the rest of your life. You can eat all of the vegetables in phases 1 and 3.

About 3FC

3FC began as a personal source of diet support for sisters Suzanne, Jennifer, and Amy in 1997. The site has grown considerably based on the feedback of the many visitors and sister chicks that found us and decided to call the website home.

The website was acquired by Internet Brands in 2010 and continues to provide the most supportive free weight loss community online!